


Third Act Love

by minhyukwithagun (deadlylampshades)



Category: NCT (Band), SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - The Wolf Among Us, Fairy Tale Elements, M/M, Magical Realism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-18 22:13:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19343692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deadlylampshades/pseuds/minhyukwithagun
Summary: The Big Bad Wolf isn’t just a name. It’s a reputation, it’s an anchor around Jaehyun’s neck.





	Third Act Love

**Author's Note:**

> my song was 'house of memories'! this is an au of the telltale video game series "the wolf among us" that's about creatures from fairytales, myths and legends who leave their Homelands and build up a city in modern-day Manhattan called Fabletown. all characters in this fic, named and unnamed, represent a Fable. no knowledge of the series is needed for this fic, and certain creative liberties are taken. 💕

_Wolves aren’t so bad, just don’t let one into your bed._

That’s what passes for quote unquote _“advice”_ in Fabletown — Jaehyun has to wonder when common sense experienced this dramatic shift in quality. He knows that whenever he walks around town, it’s accompanied by the chorus of locking doors. He used to be offended. It’s been a good few years and now it’s just kinda ridiculous. Because, right, Jaehyun has nothing better to do than knock on some reject nursery rhyme protagonist's house and eat them. Like he has _time_ for that, like he isn’t buckling under the workload that his damn boss is shoving down his throat.

Yeah, Jaehyun would _love_ to be the bogeyman under the bed, would probably be more fun than being the Sheriff for people who don’t even care, but guess what? Living in the human world means using human money — and while Doyoung has a fondness for cologne and hand mirrors, he does not have one for paying his employees. But it’s fine. It’s always fine.

He makes do. He pretends it doesn’t affect him. That’s all he can ever hope to do.

 

🍎

 

_You can’t blow away the past._

That’s Mingyu’s favourite thing to say. It’s some sick form of irony, but Jaehyun can’t judge too harshly. After all, Jaehyun was the guy who blew down his house. Maybe distasteful jokes is Mingyu’s coping mechanism.

What Jaehyun refuses to believe is a coping mechanism is Mingyu’s habit of smoking all his cigarettes and drinking alarming amounts of Mountain Dew, all the while taking up the space on his favourite chair.

“I’m not human, it’s not like I need to worry about my health,” Mingyu scoffs, reaching for the glass in Jaehyun’s outstretched arm. Jaehyun always underestimates just how _big_ Mingyu is, and he nearly topples against the wall in an effort to keep the drink away from him.

He gives up, then, not wanting another noise complaint. Jaehyun knows his neighbours don’t like loud sounds, thinks one of them is Cinderella’s eldest step-sister, but she avoids Jaehyun’s eye in the hallway so he can’t be too sure. It’s a little unfair she’s one person and has a two-bedroom place to herself, while Jaehyun squeezes himself into this glorified broom closet, but even if he had the money to move he’s not sure he’d want to.

It would be spacious enough if Mingyu wasn’t here, spreading his Chilli Heatwave Dorito crumbs everywhere he sits, but Jaehyun isn’t going to kick him out. He also can’t, because, again, that whole house demolition incident. At least Mingyu was kind enough to forgive him. Minghao and Sicheng still won’t talk to him.

Ever-present hatred lingers over their community, and one as tight-knit as theirs makes exclusion claustrophobic. Feels like a poison in Jaehyun’s body sometimes. Feels like his own skin is prickling.

But if he gets too quiet for too long, Mingyu will yawn, inevitably knocking one of the kitchen shelves, and lean on the armrest of Jaehyun’s couch and distract him with some nonsensical rambling about the romantic leads on the newest TV show he’s been invested in.

Can’t blow away the past, after all.

 

🍎

 

_Does he know it’s a duty, not just a job?_

Back in the old days, when they all lived in the Homelands, when fairies were fairies and not girls at the street corner with sparkling eyes, there were stories. And the stories said Doyoung was a wealthy aristocrat who went out riding one night after a highly successful date and fell victim to the Headless Horseman and was never seen again.

Clearly, this is not true.

Doyoung most definitely has a head. It’s also a very big one, in all senses of the word.

There’s no reason for him to _prance_ into Jaehyun’s office room, his circular glasses gleaming with anticipation, but he does anyway, because he’s Doyoung, and he probably gets off to this.

“You were late this morning,” Doyoung notes. His whole body is abnormally long, like he’s been stretched out and left in the sun. “Do you have a valid excuse?”

“No,” Jaehyun says. The elevator in his building broke down. Doyoung wouldn’t care.

It’s amusing when Doyoung’s nostrils flare out like this. Makes him look like a particularly unattractive cow. “I don’t appreciate the sarcasm.”

“That wasn’t sarcasm, Sir.” Jaehyun, who has the advantage of a neutral resting facial expression, does not crack. Seokmin cannot say the same, as he breaks out into the most restrained of giggles. He tries to muffle it, he really does, holds the book he’s reading right up to his face and starts to cough, masking his laughter in the pages.

“Is something funny?” Doyoung demands, turning right around. It’s a relief to see the backside of his checkered coat, means he doesn’t have to deal with that face, but sympathy pangs in his throat. It’s never enjoyable to be on the receiving end of any conversation that involves the acting mayor, but Seokmin in particular is just too _nice_ to have to deal.

“Not at all, sorry, I was thinking about something Beauty told me yesterday, that’s all, really,” Seokmin is quick to say. His voice is always so musical. It doesn’t fit in the cruel walls of the Business Office.

Doyoung lets Seokmin off the hook eventually, but his mood has already sharpened itself into a point meant to be stabbed. He walks like a crane, awkward and gangly but with firm steps, and it’s not long before he returns to Jaehyun’s desk. He remarks on how untidy his desk is, that he shouldn’t be late again, what a disappoint his latest case was, how Tweedledum and Tweedledee were still loose—

Jaehyun’s just got to sit there and take it.

Seokmin can’t stop Doyoung’s rage anymore than he can stop the rumours of his beheading, but on his way out, he squeezes Jaehyun’s shoulder.

 

🍎

 

_I haven’t seen that girl in ages, you know, that one with the hair?_

“I want to speak to you before Doyoung does,” Seokmin says. He slides into the cab before Jaehyun can protest, waving to the driver to begin the journey.

“I don’t know if you should be coming with me, I’m on my way to Tweedledee’s old safe house. It might be dangerous,” Jaehyun frowns. Seokmin’s wearing a waistcoat today, black with white trimming, and he looks so pretty, it hurts to look at him for too long.

“I think it might be related,” Seokmin says, voice dropping lower. “Alice has been reported missing.”

Jaehyun exhales. His worst fears has been confirmed. “I heard rumours that she hadn’t been seen for some time but I had assumed… I hoped that she was just at home, laying low.”

Fables don’t go missing. Not really. They like to be in the same space. They all came from the Homelands together, the wildlands were becoming hostile, intolerable to survive in. They built the city with their own hands. No one just leaves it. Not go back _there_.

Seokmin shakes his head. “Place has been ransacked. I just came back from it. Doyoung will most likely fill you in when you get back, but I wanted you to hear the full story from me first.”

Something bitter sticks in the roof of Jaehyun’s mouth. “You went to a crime scene without me?” This was his _job_.

“It wasn’t a choice,” Seokmin is quick to say. “Doyoung came to me this morning and told me to pack up and come with him. I sort of found out what was happening when I got there.” Seokmin’s face flashes with guilt. “Jaehyun, I had no idea, and if I did, I would have asked you to come with.”

He never blamed Seokmin. It never even occurred to him. Seokmin wasn’t capable of hurting Jaehyun. Years of working alongside him proved that.

“Why didn’t Doyoung tell me? I’ve been on a wild hunt for those two buffoons Tweedledee and Tweedledum for _weeks_ , when there was a Fable actually missing.”

Seokmin doesn’t answer immediately, and Jaehyun unconsciously braces himself for what Seokmin says next. Keeps his gaze fixed on the car window behind him, notices they’re driving past Beauty and Beast’s apartment, focuses on the overfilling trashcan, on the leafy bush that stopped flowering five years ago.

“I don’t think Doyoung wanted you involved. You know how sensitive he is to public perception. And it’s a big deal that Alice is missing, we’ve never had something like this happen to any of us in ages…” Seokmin bites his lip, “I guess he just wanted to keep you out of the picture for as long as possible.”

Just because he’s not surprised doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt.

“Thanks for letting me know, Seokmin.” Jaehyun’s gaze shifts back to him. “I’ll find her. Don’t worry.”

Seokmin’s resulting smile makes it all worth it.     

 

🍎

 

_How did someone like you even notice she’s gone?_

Jaehyun did. He never had a personal relationship with Alice, barely remembers her face if he’s to be honest, but maybe that’s a good thing. The Fables he knows more often than not are ones he avoids, ones he knows that hate him. And he doesn’t think Alice feels that way about him. She doesn’t seem the type. He’s seen enough photographs now, and knows that she has a pretty face. Kind eyes. Nice smile.

She doesn’t deserve to just… _disappear_.

People don’t always get what they deserve though, for better or worse.

“You don’t even know who she is,” Junmyeon spits. He _chose_ to come in for questioning. He wants to find her, wants to find her more than anyone else — but that doesn’t cover his absolute distaste for everything Jaehyun is. “You know nothing about her.”

“Everyone knows Alice,” Jaehyun begins, attempting to keep his voice calm but that just seems to anger Junmyeon further. Next to him, Seokmin tenses.

“ _Alice_ ,” Junmyeon repeats. He adjusts his glasses, his eyes starting to fill with tears. “That’s not who she is anymore. And you’d know that if you cared — but you don’t.”

His words are coming out chopped, and his canines are bleeding into the flesh of his cheek. He takes a deep breath to contain his aggression.

“Of course I care, I want to find her, that’s why it’s important you tell me everything you know.” Jaehyun’s patience is wearing thin. He sympathizes the loss but that emotional leniency doesn’t extend to the insults on his character. Grief he can accept. Claiming that Jaehyun doesn’t _care_ is something he cannot.

“I know you, Sheriff. You just think we’re a waste of your time.” Junmyeon’s hair is white, stark against the darkness of the room. “You only took this job because you wanted the power to control people like me. People like her. You don’t _care._ ”

“Junmyeon,” Seokmin begins, his eyes shifting rapidly from Jaehyun to Junmyeon. “Please. Jaehyun is trying his absolute best, he’s been working tirelessly.”

Jaehyun’s vision tints. Suppresses a growl.

There’s a snort. “I doubt that. You’ve just ended up under his delusions. Look at his eyes. Turning yellow. He’s getting angry at what I’m saying. He’s just a bad, bad wolf.”

His hands curl into fists. How dare this White Rabbit come in here, act like he owns the damn place, like he’s the Sheriff here, he doesn’t know anything about Fabletown, anything about Jaehyun—

Seokmin rises to his feet. “Junmyeon. I understand you’re upset.” Seokmin’s voice is instantly soothing, wraps the entire interrogation room in a blanket. It’s a good thing Seokmin’s talking. If he wasn’t, Jaehyun might do something he’d regret. And then the rumours would be even worse after that. “But know that myself and the Sheriff are trying our hardest to find her. We won’t leave a single stone unturned.”

“I believe _you,_ ” Junmyeon says, chin jutting out. “It’s him that I don’t.”

 

🍎

 

_Hate pigs like him, but he’s more of a wolf, isn’t he?_

Tweedledum, like his name would suggest, isn’t very clever. His remarks are not nearly the devastating insults that he hopes they are, but they do definitely annoy Jaehyun, particularly when he’s running around the streets of Fabletown, trying to nab the slippery bastard.

Jaehyun isn’t really one for reflecting, but he’s just jumped out of a two-storey window, and landed in a dumpster. It’s not a very good day. Tweedledum is far away, safely escaped, grabbed into a getaway car by his partner, Tweedledee. So he’s got nothing else to do, besides bandage up his arm and shove Mingyu off the couch when he gets home — besides think.   

It’s not like names even mean anything here. He’s got it on good authority that those two idiots go by Yugyeom and Bambam now — they’re just comfortable behind their aliases.  No one calls him the Big Bad Wolf anymore, he’s got a real name, a human name, he’s got a glamour, and he looks just like anyone else, why does it annoy him so much that people like Tweedledee and Junmyeon calls him wolf-

He remembers what Yugyeom had yelled as he jumped into the getaway car. “ _We don’t have her, Wolf. We never did._ ” But if they don’t, who does? Those two are wanted criminals, they have _history_ with her, if Yugyeom is telling the truth, that means that Jaehyun has no leads.

Jaehyun’s canines scrape against the insides of his cheek. Blood is bitter in his mouth. He needs to contain the aggression.

Thinks of calming things, like sheep, like the night sky, like the drag of a cigarette after a long day of work, and of Seokmin’s shy little wave every morning at the Business Office.

And he feels more human.

 

🍎

 

_Alice’s new name is really nice, don’t you think?_

“Yoohyeon.”

Jaehyun looks up. Seokmin looks different in the sunset glow. Softer than usual. All those sharp features, that distinct nose, all bathed in gold.

“I thought you went home already,” Jaehyun murmurs, rising from his desk. He’s been staring at witness transcripts for hours, eyes gone blurry. The haze disappears when he gazes at Seokmin.

“I was downstairs. Talking to Junmyeon again,” Seokmin clarifies.

“You questioned him without me,” Jaehyun states. Doesn’t blame him. If he sees him again, he might be tempted to see why chefs rave about rabbit meat.

Seokmin rubs his hands over his temple, massaging. “I had to. You know what he’s like when he’s with you. He…” and here Seokmin breaks off, trying to find a diplomatic way to say what follows.

Jaehyun has no such reservation. “He hates me. I know he does. He’s not exactly subtle about it.”

It looks like Seokmin wants to say something, but thinks better of it. He shakes his head, walks closer to his desk. When he’s this close, all Jaehyun can smell is the faint traces of rose and sugar that just drift off Seokmin. He’s from a fairytale in all senses of the term, he’s just how Mundane humans would describe. Jaehyun attempts to regain his focus when Seokmin points at one of the photographs of Alice.

“Yoohyeon,” he says, repeating the name from earlier. “That’s what Alice goes by nowadays.”

“That white rabbit didn’t even trust me enough to tell me her damn name, did he?” Jaehyun’s laugh is bitter. He slams the file shut — Seokmin barely has time to slip his fingers out. He’s literally been on this case for more than a week. He’s been up and down the entire town, knocking on doors and looking under rocks, and her closest friend didn’t even think Jaehyun was worthy of the information of her name.

“Sometimes I wonder what’s the damn point,” Jaehyun mutters.

“In what?” Seokmin asks. And Jaehyun almost forgets that there was someone else here. Listening.

“You wouldn’t understand.” He’s starting to feel silly now, having temper tantrums over the opinion of one rabbit.

“Try me, Jaehyun.” He always says his name so _softly_. Like he’s trying to break him. _I’m not delicate_ , Jaehyun wants to say, _not like you_. But that would be such an incorrect statement, nothing about Seokmin is like his legend. He’s not some fair-skinned royal destined for glass coffins, no, if it’s anything like the Seokmin that Jaehyun has come to know, that coffin would be cracked. Seokmin would emerge from it himself, would never just lay down and die, not when there was work to be done, people to take care of.

“I do everything I can to be the best Sheriff for this town,” he says, “but it’s still not good enough. People still judge me for what I’ve done a lifetime ago. It’s nothing I don’t deserve but _fuck,_ if they could at least keep the hatred to themselves for a moment.”

“I don’t think they hate you,” Seokmin says carefully. “They’re scared of you. You’re stronger than them. Louder than them. You don’t just care about yourself, in fact, you worry about everyone else.” Seokmin’s hand is warm on his shoulder. “You _care_. And you’re a better man than any of them.”

Jaehyun snorts at this. It’s an easy defense, and it’s better than admitting that Seokmin’s words soothe Jaehyun’s heart like nothing else ever could. Heat exudes from his chest to the point of contact between them on Jaehyun’s shoulder. “Clearly you don’t know me very well.”

“On the contrary, Jaehyun,” Seokmin says, a smile curving on his pretty face, “I think I know you pretty well.” The light is fading now. Seokmin’s face still traps the last remaining glow. “It’s getting late.”

“Let me walk you home,” Jaehyun says without thinking. “It’s dangerous out there.”

Seokmin regards him for a moment — and then nods. He’s walking to the elevator, presses the button when he speaks. “You worry about me.”

“It’s a dangerous place out there,” Jaehyun says. _Yes. I always do._

“It is,” he nods. “So be safe, okay?”

Jaehyun’s heart lurches.

 

🍎

 

_Do you ever think about the old days? What is Charming even doing nowadays? I know he dumped Snow ages ago, but I wonder what he’s been up to._

It’s funny how when Jaehyun walks, everyone “coincidentally” drifts to the opposite side of the road. He’d have thought accompanying Seokmin, a man who radiated purity, would have dampened Jaehyun’s own dark cloud, but such is not the case.

“I bet this never happened when you’d walk with Prince Charming,” Jaehyun says before he can stop himself. He knows why he brings it up. He’s been thinking about Charming a lot lately. Charming’s the only one who ever left Fabletown for the real big city. Thinks he might be a movie star, or something equally ridiculous. Before he was beloved by millions, though, he was beloved by one — and Jaehyun can’t stop thinking about how unbelievable it was that he willingly gave up someone like Seokmin.

Seokmin’s eyes are wide with confusion. “That was unexpected.”

“Sorry,” Jaehyun says. And he is. He knows himself how much he hates when someone brings up red hoods and torn apart houses — but he’s not trying to hurt Seokmin. He just wants to know the differences between them.

“And to correct you,” Seokmin says, “it’s not like Charming ever walked me home. We never did things like that.” He pauses. His face is washed with nostalgia. “It was… simpler in the Homelands, you know? You find someone who looks good next to you and you stick to him. It’s what makes the prettiest picture.”

The nicest story.

That’s what the Mundanes care about. The fairytale at the end of their lives. For a species of such diversity, they have such a pattern in tastes. They love hearing about Rapunzel with her hair like cornsilk, trapped in a tower, and it’s just such a nice narrative that a prince happened upon her, just waiting. They don’t care that Rapunzel doesn’t even live there anymore, that she’s a cigarette-smoking hairdresser two streets over, that she works below her one-bedroom apartment, her tower collapsed under the weight of its own decay.

“Do you know where Charming is?” Jaehyun asks.

“You’re on a role, aren’t you Jaehyun? First you’re going to find Yoohyeon, now you’re going to find Charming,” Seokmin laughs. It isn’t unkind. “I don’t know where he is. New York, I think. You know Beauty, they got along very well, and she told me the other day that Charming was striking it big there, doesn’t think he’ll ever bother to come home. I’m fine with that.”

Jaehyun can’t pretend to be disappointed at the news.

“He hated Fabletown. Said it was a disgrace.”

“That’s how I feel about his bleached hair,” Jaehyun mumbles.

Jaehyun loves how easily Seokmin laughs. He lights up everything around him. Even when they’re just walking down a dark street.

“I like it here,” Seokmin says, quite so suddenly, like he hadn’t even meant to say it at all. “It’s different. But different is good.”

His hand brushes Jaehyun’s, and he assumes it’s an accident. But it’s persistent. Seokmin has always been persistent. When their fingers interlock, the world doesn’t stop moving, the story doesn’t end, the magic doesn’t fade.

 

🍎

 

_The woman who owns the house doesn’t know that under her roof is Snow White. Funny how Mundies are, aren’t they?_

“You can’t come inside,” Seokmin tells him, and bursts into a laughter at Jaehyun’s expression. “Not like that. I’d love to invite you in. It’s just. My landlady.”

Jaehyun feels a rush of tranquility he doesn’t think he’s ever experienced before. It’s not because of him. He stands outside Seokmin’s house, and the door isn’t locked because the Big Bad Wolf is there.  “She’s not magic, is she?”

“Not in the slightest,” Seokmin laughs. “And she’ll have an issue about me bringing men around late. I’m sure you understand.”

“Sure,” Jaehyun says, even as he doesn’t understand in the slightest. He’s never had anyone waiting for him, anyone wanting him inside. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Seokmin says. His eyes glimmer in the moonlight. They’re a tint of blue, a tint of black, a tint of brown. Something all-encompassing. “Please rest. You work too hard.”

“You’re too good to me,” Jaehyun mumbles under his breath. It’s meant to be a joke. It doesn’t come out that way. His voice betrays the roughness of honesty. “I’m not the best person.”

“You aren’t,” Seokmin agrees, “I care about you anyway.”

 

🍎

 

_Don’t you think it would be best if the wolf just left this awful place?_

Jaehyun has dreams where he disappears. Sometimes it’s back to the Homelands, where he crawls into a cave and lets his own humanity leech into the rocks and trees around him, till he’s every bit the beast everyone thinks he is, the beast he was. He could fit in with the monsters that remain there.

Sometimes it’s to the city, the actual city, where the _humans_ live, if it worked for Charming, well maybe it’ll work for him, perhaps if he’s shitty at being a Fable, he’d be better at being a person.

He won’t. Of course not, he doesn’t know where to get a good glamour in New York, for one. And he doesn’t think he’ll find a job easily, his special skills range from hand-to-hand combat to house demolition. He doesn’t have the advantage that Charming’s perfect face granted him. But the thing is, even if Doyoung were to personally come down from his ivory tower and gift Jaehyun with his weight in gold, give him the finest mansion in the city with a view better than the limelights of Hollywood, Jaehyun would never accept.

Fabletown is his home, and if he didn’t care about it, he would never have become Sheriff. There’s magic about this place, as simple as it sounds. The grass always grows wilder in the lawn in front of witch, the morning dew sparkles like no other. The telephone poles are a little thicker around this part of town with discreet claw marks embedded in the wood, as to be assumed when they're the roosting place of flying monkeys. And their eyes are unlike anyone else’s, where humans are flat, there’s a sparkle that encompasses Fables unlike any other. Jaehyun’s is brown like a shot of whiskey, Doyoung’s is as grey as the clouded sky and Beauty’s is as flourishing as the cedar trees that once encircled her palace.

Seokmin’s is unlike any other. His eyes never restricted themselves, refused to be caged in the domain of a single colour, just like the man himself. They are a swirling symphony of grey and blue, like the sky after a storm, when the rain recedes — when the sun comes out.

There’s magic, here.

He has dreams about disappearing, but can’t stop himself being grateful when he wakes up and sees the peeling wallpaper of his apartment to the chorus of Mingyu’s snores.

 

🍎

 

_Wherever she is, she’s better off._

 Alice- no, _Yoohyeon_ , has been seen.

By that, Jaehyun means that everyone has claimed to see her out of the corner of their eye at the bank, smoking a cigar under the bridge, ordering a quart at Jackson’s place. And, under Doyoung’s orders, Jaehyun investigates each and every location.

It’s thankless and inefficient. Jaehyun didn’t need a crystal ball to figure out that he wasn’t going to get any concrete information, but Doyoung’s breath had been imperious on Jaehyun’s neck that morning, and there wasn’t much left for discussion.  

He runs into Seokmin at Jackson’s, and blinks in confusion, surreptitiously attempting to shove the whisky he ordered behind his back as he turns. “What are you doing here?”

“Hello to you too,” Seokmin replies. His grin is wide on his face.

When he settles into the stool next to Jaehyun, there’s very little excuses left. “I’m here on work, I swear, Doyoung sent me an eyewitness report that someone saw her here—”

The resulting laughter is not out of place in a bar like Jackson’s. It is, however, certainly not common to be heard from someone like Seokmin, who still seems like he belongs in towers at the hand of a king, than in a seedy bar with sticky countertops. “Jaehyun, I know.”

“What do you mean you _know_?” Seokmin wasn’t there when Jaehyun got to the Business Office this morning, and Jaehyun did not have the time to linger until he did.

“I sent the report,” Seokmin says. “That claimed Alice was sighted.”

Jaehyun’s eyes widen. “Is she _here_?”

“Not at all. But I knew Doyoung was overworking you, and I felt like you deserved a break, even a short one. So I thought perhaps an anonymous tip-off might give you a moment to yourself.” Seokmin beams. “Enjoy.”

Seokmin doesn’t drink. Perhaps it’s the side effect of having been poisoned once, or maybe it just doesn’t appeal to him — but he doesn’t. This is the first time Jaehyun has even _seen_ Seokmin here, wasn’t aware the existence of such a bar was even known to him.

“I’ve been at it all day,” Jaehyun mutters. “No leads. Everyone seems to think that she’s better off whenever she is. Which is, the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard, considering she could literally be _dead_ —”

“Volume,” Seokmin says. It’s not a chastisement. It’s gentler than that. He’s always gentle. “We don’t know who’s listening.”

Jaehyun sips his whiskey. Burns. “Thanks for bailing me out, Seokmin,” he says. “I appreciate it.”

“And I appreciate you working hard,” Seokmin replies. He signals to Jackson, orders a water with a single lemon slice in it. “I know it’s thankless. But even if I’m the only one, I’m grateful to you.”

Jaehyun never liked looking at Seokmin for too long. Felt like looking at the sun. But the buzz he feels from the whiskey dampens the effect, but in the way that it can be appreciated. He’s so beautiful. Hair like ebony is how the fairytale went, and Jaehyun knows better than to believe human stories, but that part seems accurate.

He wants to reach out and touch him, just to convince himself he’s real. Jaehyun almost says something. Something foolish like how much he appreciates that Seokmin is the only one who ever cared about him in Fabletown. That Seokmin never based his opinion on Jaehyun’s past.

And then he hears it. The whispers.

“What’s wrong?” Seokmin says. He notices the change in Jaehyun’s expression, the way he buries himself in his whiskey.

He waits till he swallows. “They’re talking about me,” Jaehyun says. “Happens everywhere I fucking go. I’ll be at the grocery store and there’ll be someone talking about woodsmen and blowing over houses.”

Seokmin frowns. “Don’t let it bother you, Jaehyun, you know that’s not you.”

The idea is ridiculous. Jaehyun is incapable of letting it go. He hears these rumours everyday of his life, it’s like the undertone to every thought, the bass notes in his song. _Wolves aren’t so bad, just don’t let one into your bed. Does he know it’s a duty, not just a job? How did someone like you even notice she’s gone? Don’t you think it would be best if the wolf just left this awful place?_

“You think so?” Jaehyun says, laughing bitterly. “Pretty sure everyone else will disagree. You should go, Seokmin. They’ll just start gossiping about you, and I don’t want that.” Jaehyun looks at Seokmin, his heart hurting. “You don’t deserve to be in the same breath as me.”

Seokmin is quiet. “Do you want me to leave?”

“Never,” Jaehyun says hoarsely. “But what I want doesn’t matter. This could get back to Doyoung, and he won’t take kindly to hearing you were drinking on the job with me.” He looks up at Seokmin. He’s so beautiful. His skin must be so soft to touch. “I’ll be okay. Don’t worry about me.”

“I always do,” Seokmin says. “These people saying these rumours… they don’t matter.”

That doesn’t change the reality. “They all think I’m the monster from their memories.”

“Guess I remember you differently, Jaehyun,” Seokmin says, and lets his hand linger on Jaehyun’s shoulder before he leaves.

 

🍎

 

_He doesn’t care about anything other than his own power-trip. He’s just an animal._

The Big Bad Wolf isn’t just a name. It’s a reputation, it’s an anchor around Jaehyun’s neck. He’s ditched the name years ago, was one of the first of the Fables to do so. Doesn’t seem to matter. He knows what he’s done, and he’s tried to atone for it.

Mingyu more than anyone else is aware of this.

And Jaehyun realizes that the people who say these things about him, who talk their twisted tangled versions of the past, don’t _care_ about who he is, but Jaehyun can’t scratch it off his skin, he can’t turn off his head. It’s always there, what they say. He walks outside and he thinks about what’s the next tale they weave, until Jaehyun’s in a spiderweb of his own fabricated existence.

🍎

 

_I saw them walking to Snow’s place the other day. What do you think someone like him wants?_

“Come home with me,” Seokmin says. His voice is quiet, and he’s showing Jaehyun a photograph of Yoohyeon, and it all seems so normal that Doyoung has no interest in their conversation. He just sits at his desk, pretending to type emails, most likely distracting himself from his actual job.

Jaehyun stares up at Seokmin uncomprehendingly. “Why?”

“I need to show you something. Please?” Seokmin’s bright eyes flash up, meets Doyoung’s, and he immediately drops his gaze. This isn’t like Seokmin. He’s never this quiet, never this careful. “We can’t talk here. But walk me home tonight? Please?”

“Always,” Jaehyun says.

 

🍎

 

_Who even is the fairest one of all nowadays?_

“Be quiet,” Seokmin whispers. “She can’t know you’re in here. She doesn’t allow visitors.” He opens the door, lets Jaehyun inside the confines of his home, and Jaehyun thinks he might have been better outside. Seokmin’s house is a testament to the man himself. Rustic wooden furniture, a blanket thrown over a couch that looks like it’s been fallen asleep on far too often, and while Jaehyun would love to spend hours here, investigating the home that makes up the man — his attention is captured elsewhere. There’s a mirror, in the corner, big and ornate. Pulsates magic. More than anything Jaehyun’s seen in a very long time.

“Is that...” Jaehyun breaks off. His own reflection stares back at him. He never realized how odd he looks standing next to Seokmin, how he’s round and brash, and Seokmin is perfectly pointed. He links their hands together.

“The Magic Mirror?” Seokmin completes. His skin is cold. “Yes. Exactly that. I had it locked up for so long. It was broken.”

The mirror is almost flawless, if not for the crack that blooms across the glass in the corner. “What happened there?”

“When I brought it here,” he answers. He doesn’t look at Jaehyun, just looks at his own reflection. “From the Homelands. It wasn’t an easy trip. I know it was foolish to bring it all the way, but I had to, I couldn’t leave it there for the Queen to use. I didn’t want her to find me.”

“Even if she tried to find you, she’d never be able to,” Jaehyun says, surprising himself with the assurance in his voice. “I’m the Sheriff. You know that I’ll always be there to protect you.”

He lets the fingers of his other hand run along the imperfection. “It took me so long trying to repair it. I don’t like the idea of using it, but I thought we could ask it where Alice is.” His grip tightens.

“Alice,” Jaehyun agrees. “Do you know how to talk to it?”

“Yeah.” He detaches his hand, steps forward. He knocks on the glass gently, and the face that protrudes from the swirling mist contained in the glass regards them with mild annoyance.

“I’ve been disturbed,” it intones. The voice is ageless.

“Mirror Mirror, above and all-seeing of Fabletown, show us Alice, on the surface or upside down.”

God, he forgot this fucking thing insisted on rhymes. He really is grateful they ditched some of their history in the move to Fabletown. But Jaehyun keeps his opinions to himself, knows how important this is to Seokmin, knows his own history with the mirror. Can’t fathom how he can even bear to have it here, in the sanctity of his home. It doesn’t fit in between his collection of books about birds, and his painting of a castle.  

The mirror shifts, pulsates — and presents Alice, that is, Yoohyeon. The relief Jaehyun feels from knowing she’s alive is all that matters. She’s alone, in a darkened forest, and while mud cakes her face and her clothes are ripped, she seems in no danger. And that’s better than the thousands of possibilities that had haunted Jaehyun.

“Is that…” Seokmin murmurs.

The mirror’s tone is devoid of emotion: “Wherever the girl roams, she is entirely alone.”

And then it’s gone. The vision, Yoohyeon, the face, it’s all gone. It’s just a mirror, just their reflection. Just the ridiculously beautiful incarnation of Snow White, and the Big Bad Wolf as the guard-dog.

 

“I know where she is,” Jaehyun says.  He’s been staring at Seokmin for too long. There’s a feeling that’s overpowering him. “Yoohyeon.”

“You recognize where she is.” It’s not a question.

“Yeah.” His voice is strange. Seokmin’s just so close. He can hear his breathing. “It’s the Homelands. She went home.”

They’re all from the Homelands, but it’s a big place. What Seokmin knows is castles, is masquerade balls, is meadows. The home that Jaehyun knows is the wilds. The suffocating pine trees, the thick dirt, the growls emerging from the bushes. And it’s where she is right now.

“I can’t pinpoint her exact location but I know what those trees look like, I know the terrain. I don’t think anyone else will be able to find her besides me. I’m the most… _familiar_ with the woods, after all.”

Seokmin’s smile stiffens. “You’re going back to the Homelands?”

“I have to get her,” Jaehyun states. It’s the obvious reality.  “At least make sure she’s fine, that she’s there willingly. If she is, that’s another matter, but if she’s been taken there or lost, I need to help her.”

There’s not a lot of light in Seokmin’s lounge. He didn’t want to put it on when he walked in, didn’t want to give any signs that he had company to his landlady. This results in moonlight illuminating his face, soft shadows. 

“It’s been a while since any of us been have there,” he says. “Like a decade?”

“Probably more,” Jaehyun gazes around the room, as if trying to capture the moment into his memory. He doesn’t know if he’ll be allowed back in here. If he’ll be able to. “It’s fine. I can handle myself.”

Could he? What remained in the Homelands was what lingers after a stain has been wiped away. The remnants. The individuals too corrupted for the human world, the creatures too grotesque for glamour. Jaehyun’s been gone for a long time. He’s domesticated. Has a job, wears a tie now. He’s not the beast he used to be — for better or for worse.

The Homelands may not be an easy place to be.

But Seokmin doesn’t need to know that.

“I don’t need to pack, but I need to have enough gas for the drive, I need to get some before I go,” Jaehyun mutters to himself, buttoning up his jacket. “Will you tell Doyoung tomorrow where I am? I don’t want to involve him. He’ll just waste my time.”

“You’re leaving?” There’s panic in Seokmin’s voice. “Now?”

Jaehyun throws the question back. “What reason do I have to wait?” The longer Yoohyeon is there, the more vulnerable she is.

Seokmin gestures to his window. The sky’s always got sparkling stars here. Jaehyun went to the big city once, couldn’t believe how different it looked. “It’s dark. It’s so late.” He pauses, trying to find his voice. “It’s dangerous.”

“It’s always going to be dangerous in the Homelands.”

Seokmin purses his lips. Walks closer to Jaehyun. Their height difference feels like the distance between worlds. “Jaehyun, when you leave, I’ll be here worrying about you, all alone. And I don’t want to be alone now.”

And then Seokmin cups his face like he’s the most gentle creature in the world, and kisses him.

 

🍎

 

_People don’t change._

There are things Jaehyun deserves. He deserved a second chance, no matter what anyone else said. He deserved the respect of Fabletown, even if he had to pry it from their grips. But Jaehyun did not deserve this, did not deserve the way Seokmin kisses a path down his throat, the way he removes his shirt with trembling hands, the way his hands curl into the fabric of his sheets.

Jaehyun’s so careful when he touches Seokmin, doesn’t think he deserves this chance, but isn’t willing to waste it either. He presses them close together, swallows each whimper that emerges from Seokmin’s mouth. He runs his fingers through Seokmin’s hair, like he’s always wanted to. He gets to do everything he’s wanted, gets to kiss him, gets to worship him and lavish him in the attention he deserves and it’s everything Jaehyun could have ever wanted.

“Touch me,” Seokmin says.

Jaehyun’s always been bad at following orders. He has no hesitation with this one, lets his hands trace up and down the path of his body.

How can anyone say that Jaehyun is still the same wolf from all that time ago, when he finds his own redemption in the warmth of Seokmin’s embrace?

“Come home,” Seokmin whispers into his ear. His heart hammers under Jaehyun’s palm.

“You know I will,” Jaehyun says. Seokmin’s eyes are where he belongs, more than the Homelands or Fabletown could ever be

 

🍎

 

_Sheriff’s been gone a while. Think he went back to where he belongs?_

Sometimes he wears the white shirt, the one with the horizontal stripes, the tight one. Seokmin likes that one, says it makes him look fancy.

 _“Domesticated,”_ he joked, bumping their shoulders together.

When he gets home that evening, nodding a greeting to Mingyu, he pulls off the tie first and unbuttons the shirt, pulling it off even as it clings down his arms. And even when the fabric is off, already littering the floor, there’s the indentations remaining his skin, of a cufflink too tight, of a button embedding itself in his flesh. And it stays there, for a while, a few minutes, maybe a little longer.

Stepping back into the Homelands feels like running his hands over the imprints in his own body. His memory could be flawed, but his body remembers this place. Each footstep deeper and deeper into the forest makes him feel like he’s leaving something behind, even as he constantly reminds himself he’s going back.

Like a sleeping giant’s slumber interrupted, Jaehyun feels like he’s woken up as he ventures onto the beaten path, the grove of trees suffocating around him. The air is crisp here, and even though it’s morning, sunlight is barely filtered between the overgrowth of leaves. He had thought something so natural, so wild would have been unrecognizable — the truth is the opposite. Coming here, is like coming home.

Before, he used to be cautious of axemen in the woods, and not much else. Now, he’s not sure where to even look. There’s imprints embedded all over his skin and it feels so wrong, and he just wants to get back in his car and drive far, far away from this place and who he used to be.

But he’s got a job to do.     

🍎

 

_They say the Homelands have grown wild._

He barely remembers the place. But his body does, instinct taking over, knowing the path to cut between the trees. His stride is forceful. Nothing bothers him, and if anything tries, Jaehyun regards it carefully, baring his teeth.

Being a wolf means something here.

They don’t need to know how far he’s drifted from the moniker.

It’s incredible that a forest so vast and open could feel claustrophobic, but the Homelands have changed. Where there were once paths, they are now overgrown, roots and leaves entangling into one. No footsteps. No people. It’s a lonely place to be. There’s the chorus of birds, but as Jaehyun drifts deeper and deeper in, he hears something else. A melody. A song, wordless but beautiful.

“Yoohyeon,” Jaehyun breathes. He didn’t know Alice could sing.

The song breaks off when he finds her, huddled underneath a tree as old as time. She looks up at him, eyelashes caked together with tears. There’s recognition in her face as she tries to place him. “I know you. You’re…”

Jaehyun? The Big Bad Wolf? A disgrace?

“The Sheriff,” Yoohyeon completes. And Jaehyun smiles.

“Yes I am,” he crouches down. “You’ve been gone a while. People have been worried. Me included.” He surreptitiously inspects her surroundings. There’s a pile of berries next to her, and while her face is smudged with dirt, she seems to harbour no injuries other than the ones that brought her here. But those don’t seem to be physical in nature at all.

“That’s a surprise,” she says, sniffling. “I wondered if you’d find me. I wondered if anyone cared to even look.”

He sits down next to her. She’s shorter than him, her grip shivering, even when he wraps his jacket around her. “Well, I found you. Are you hurt?”

Yoohyeon shakes her head. “It’s not my first time being in places I shouldn’t be. I can keep my head above water.”

“Planning on surviving on a diet of maple syrup and berries for the rest of your life?” Jaehyun remarks. Yoohyeon is pretty when she laughs.

“Do you want to tell me why you’re here?” Jaehyun asks. “Or do you just want to go?” And then pauses. “Or do you want to stay?”

“No!” she cries, “No, I don’t want to stay. I would have gone back to Fabletown a week ago but, this forest.” She dabs at her eyes with the back of her sleeve. “It all looks the same. I don’t know how to get back. There’s no beacon that can guide me home, I’ve just been _lost_.”

“Then why did you come here?”

Yoohyeon considers him for a moment. “I was homesick.”

He knows how that feels. He’s missed who he once was as well. Not lately. But he used to.

“At least I thought I was. I felt like I lost my identity. I didn’t feel like Alice, I didn’t feel like Yoohyeon, I didn’t feel like any of the names I’ve cycled through in my life,” Yoohyeon sighs. “I thought maybe if I came back to the Homelands I’d see what I missed but... it’s not the same.”

The Homelands are wild, the Homelands are dangerous but Jaehyun gets the impression the Homelands could have been exactly the way they were when she walked away, down to the colour of the leaves, and she wouldn’t have called it home.

“You aren’t the same person who left,” Jaehyun says. There’s freedom in saying this aloud. “I don’t think you’re meant to be here. There’s better things for you elsewhere. You don’t have to stay in Fabletown — but you don’t belong here.”

Jaehyun doesn’t know much about Yoohyeon. He knows a lot about Alice though, he’s read up about her. The story goes that she fell into a rabbithole, and came to the most amazing place, met a talking caterpillar, upset a queen, and throughout it all, retained that childlike naivety that prompted her there to begin with.

Yoohyeon isn’t a child, not at all. She’s tall, she’s clever, has eyes that glisten with intelligence and hair like silver feathers and she’s no beast to be kept in the wilds.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” Jaehyun says. He’s not a person of physical affection, but a kind word in a dark place like this is enough. Love is always enough.

“I almost wasn’t. There’s things in here that should stay here. I thought Fabletown was bad, but no, it’s not. This… this isn’t what it’s supposed to be,” Yoohyeon pauses, give a hollow laugh. “I should leave. You’re right. I don’t belong here, Jaehyun.”

“I don’t think any of us do,” Jaehyun says. His hand feels a phantom grip, thinks about what it would be like to look into those eyes that are never quite one colour.

“I didn’t imagine I’d hear someone like you say that,” Yoohyeon blinks. “I’ve heard the things people say. You’re the Big Bad Wolf, aren’t you? You used to prowl these very woods like it was your kingdom.”

He did. His claws raking across trees, tearing apart flesh like it’s paper, howls at the moon. There was no need for respect here. He wasn’t haunted by rumours here like he is there.

Because that’s all it is, isn’t it. Rumours. _Wolves aren’t so bad, just don’t let one into your bed. He doesn’t care about anything other than his own power-trip. He’s just an animal. What do you think someone like him wants? People don’t change._

They were never memories, they were always rumours. People thinking they knew Jaehyun, and they never die. The lies they spread, all based on illusions and fantasies that were just never _true_. And it used to make Jaehyun angry, and it used to make Jaehyun sad. But then he thinks of a warm smile, of Seokmin’s hands against his own, of the warmth of his kiss, of a drifting sunset in the window of the Business Office.

“This isn’t my home,” Jaehyun says. “Not anymore.”

 

🍎

 

_Wolves aren’t so bad._

That’s what Seokmin whispers to him at night, curled up next to him, where he belongs. No conjunction, no modification, no addition. Jaehyun is just enough as he is. _Wolves aren’t so bad_.

**Author's Note:**

> i would not have been able to write this at all if it wasn't for my beta shauna, who stopped me deleting all of this, and who's constant support and encouragement made me actually get to the finish line. kali, this would not have a title if it wasn't for you and your impeccable taste. a huge thank you to almay as well, both as the admin of this amazing ficfest, and for listening to me complain i don't know how to read for the past few weeks. 💕 be sure to check out the other awesome entries for the fest!
> 
> comments are much loved!
> 
> you can find me on:  
> \- [twitter](https://twitter.com/minhyukwithagun/)  
> \- [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/minhyukwithagun/)  
> \- under your local drawbridge
> 
> thanks for reading 💕


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